`Good Guy` Gets Carried Away

As lawyer Nate Fadim tells it, he was just trying to be a good guy, which he says he often does.

It began on a recent morning, as he was riding the elevator down from his Gold Coast condo. He noticed a pretty young woman nervously studying a traffic ticket.

So he struck up a conversation. Not that he had anything improper in mind. At 75, Nate is not given to flirtations.

``This girl was so nervous, she`s shaking,`` Nate says. ``So I asked her what`s wrong. She says she has to go to court for speeding on the Drive. She`s never had a ticket before and says she doesn`t know what to do.

``Well, I`m the kind of guy who helps people. I used to play the piano for some paraplegics. When I lived in California, I was an earthquake-disaster volunteer. We didn`t have any disaster, but I was ready. In other words, I am the kind of person who gives of myself.

``So I said: `I`m early for an appointment, and I`ll be glad to represent you gratuitously.`

``We hop in a cab. It`s early, so we stop to have breakfast in a coffee shop and prepare her defense.

``Then we walk over to court at 10 minutes to 9, and I have her sit down and I file the necessary papers to represent her.

``Then I sit down and we wait. And we wait and wait. And pretty soon it`s 9:35 a.m., and the judge still isn`t there.``

Nate is not a patient man. At his age, who has time to spare just sitting around a courtroom? Nor is he hesitant about expressing himself.

Nate looked at his watch, then he looked at the clerk and bellowed:

``Where`s the judge?``

``This clerk says back to me: `What did you say?`

``So I yelled out: `Where`s the judge? It`s 9:35. Where`s the judge?`

``Then the clerk and this bailiff come over. The bailiff must be 270 pounds. And they tell me to shut up.

``I tell them that I don`t have to shut up. And they tell me that if I don`t shut up, they`ll put me in the back room and shut me up.

``So I yelled: `I don`t have to shut up!`

``And they grab me by the arms and take me back into the judge`s chambers.

``I say, `What the hell am I doing here.` And this one guy says, `I told you to shut up.`

``And I say, `I don`t have to shut up, you black sonofabitch.`

``Then he hits me in the chest. And he told me that if I didn`t shut up I`d be handcuffed and locked up.

``I have evidence. When he hit my chest, my glasses were in a case in my pocket, and he bent the frame. I took them in, by the way, to be repaired, but they`re bent too bad to repair. It`s okay, I have three other pairs.

``Then they picked me up and they carried me back into the courtroom. They picked me right up. And I`m 6 feet 1, 195 pounds and circumcised.``

What did your client think of all this?

``Her? When I come back, she`s sitting there and she says to me, `It serves you right.`

``So I took the ticket and tore it up right there and I threw the pieces in her ----ing face.

``Then I walked right out and left her there. Who needs all that? Not me. I was a friend of the late Mayor Daley.``

Maybe you shouldn`t have called that bailiff that name.

``Normally I never refer to people by race, and I only did it because he hit me.``

You said he hit you after you called him a bad name.

``No. He hit me first. That`s why I called him that. By the way, Kup is a friend of mine too.``

Not that I doubted Nate, but I asked court officials if the incident happened exactly the way he told it. They said not quite.

``That man was yelling and causing a commotion and calling the court personnel obscene names. So they told him to be quiet or to leave. After he left, the woman apologized to the judge for his behavior, and the judge dismissed the ticket.``

Nate responded: ``I don`t use vulgarities. I am an American citizen. I wouldn`t say that in public.``

Nate also says this experience will not discourage him from going on being a good guy.

``That`s the way I am. I give of myself.``

But he is disappointed in the lack of gratitude on the part of the girl on the elevator.

``You know, I paid for the cab to the courthouse. That was $3.30. And I paid for breakfast. That was $2.80. And you know what?``